Another one of Southern California's famous open-air shopping and dining destination. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean and reminiscent of a Mediterranean village, Fashion Island is the town center of Newport Beach and centerpiece of the Newport Coast resort. Fashion Island features nearly 200 retail stores, an array of casual and fine dining restaurants, as well as a movie theatre and more.

Local's Comments
Fashion Island is Newport Beach's main town center. It is a great place to walk around and enjoy the outdoor weather. Located minutes away from the beach, you can just about feel the water as you browse around between stores. Not really as many shopping stores for teens, it is mostly the middle-upper class that shop here. However, with a Barnes & Nobles and movie theatre, you will see your share of the younger crowd. There are some great restaurants located in this center. Flemings, Hard Rock Cafe, PF Chang's and more.

An outdoor mall located at the 405 and 5 split in Irvine, the Irvine Spectrum is one of the only bustling place at night. Irvine Spectrum Center, a state-of-the-art destination for shopping in Southern California, features premier dining, entertainment and shopping centers. This Orange County shopping area has become a top location for both residents and visitors. There is something for every member of the family to enjoy from activities geared towards entertaining the kids to art festivals and other fine arts displays.

Conveniently located between Los Angeles and San Diego in what is known as Southern California's tourism corridor, the Irvine Spectrum Center is in close proximity to many other exciting California attractions. Whether you are coming to see a professional sports game or visit a major theme park, Irvine and its fantastic shopping opportunities are only a short distance away.

Local's Comments
Irvine Spectrum is one of the few places in Irvine that is alive past 8pm at night. With great dining restaurants such as The Fish Market, Javier's Cantina and Grill, Yard House, Champps Restuarant and Bar and Maki Maki, people will be able to enjoy the finer food in life. Fox Sports Grill and Dave & Busters is also located at the Spectrum where many gamers and sports fan usually hang.

The shopping center opened its doors in fall of 2008. One of the main draws of the Asian shopping center is a Taiwanese bakery, 85 °C Bakery Café. Although the bakery is a chain in Taiwan, the Irvine location is the first in the states. Some of the other stores and restaurants include: H-Mart Supermarket, Ajisen Ramen, Guppy House, BBQ Chicken USA, Capital Seafood, Aura Beauty Spa and Tokyo Table.

Local's Comments
There used to be only two Asian shopping centers in Irvine, and those were constantly packed. It was only a matter of time another one opened up to serve the huge Asian American population in Irvine. Unlike most Asian shopping centers, parking is actually not much of an issue as of December 2008. There are still a few restaurants that have yet to open, but with ample parking space in addition to a parking garage, consumers may not have to be as agressive while searching for parking.

One of the more well known malls in America, South Coast Plaza is almost 3 million square feet of shopping stores. The mall receives well over 21 million shoppers a year. This is a huge indoor mall that has mainstream stores such as GAP, Sears, Express as well as luxury designer shoes such as Gucci, Versace. Georgio Armani, Saks Fifth Avenue, Christian Dior, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Tiffany, Hermès, Bvlgari, Fendi, Yves Saint Laurent, Van Cleef & Arpels, Burberry, Jimmy Choo, Bottega Veneta, Sergio Rossi, Louis Vuitton, Donna Karan New York, Celine and Cartier.

Celebrities such as Kobe Bryant and Kevin Costner have been known to make their way to South Coast Plaza

Local's Comments
South Coast Plaza is a shopper's dream mall if you have big pockets. The average shopper most likely would not be spending much money at the designer shoes. If you are someone looking for the latest designer fashion trend, the luxury stores at South Coast will keep you occupied untill you go broke.

For the average shopper, the mall is still a great place to visit and experience. The mall does have stores for the average middle income shopper so you may very well spend hours here.

The food court within the mall is not much to get excited over. The Elephant Bar recently opened up inside the mall. Other than that and the high scale Clubhouse restaurant, there isn't much other choices within the actual mall. However, there are a number of great dining choices within a block of the mall. Restaurants such as Morton's, TGIF, Mastro's Steakhouse, Pinot Provence Restaurant, Scott's, Troquet and more.

The Block at Orange features the best names in manufacturers’and retail outlets including Old Navy, Ann Taylor Factory Store, OFF 5th Saks Fifth Avenue Outlet as well as high quality entertainment venues including AMC 30 Theatres, Dave & Buster's and Lucky Strike Lanes and various themed restaurants.

Local's Comments
The Block is a popular hangout area for the under 18 crowd during the weekends. There are still plenty of shops for people of all ages to browse. Main attractions in the mall is the AMC movie theatre and Dave & Busters.

If you're looking for the ultimate shopping, dining and entertainment destination location, we've got it. Irvine's Tustin Market Place has a large amount of shopping and dining establishments, and more special events and activities than you can count. The Market Place's convenient location is easy to access as it is just a short distance to either Los Angeles or San Diego.

Choose from over 130 unique stores that carry everything from apparel to sporting goods. From national department stores to privately owned shops, you will find the greatest brands from all over the world. When hours of shopping spark your hunger, stop in at one of over 30 restaurants featuring nearly any flavor and style of cuisine you can think of. From fast-food to relaxed and luxurious sit-down restaurants, you are sure to find whatever you're looking for to satisfy you cravings.

Shoe Stores

Loehmann's

Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse

Payless ShoeSource

VANS Shoes

Local's Comments
Tustin Marketplace has a number of stores for the average middle-class crowd. Stores such as Baby R US, Old Navy, Ross, Shoe Pavillion and dining places such as Black Angus, Rubio's, Red Robbins and more, people will be able to enjoy themselves without breaking the bank.

The District is rising to give the people what they want. The sweetest shops. The tastiest restaurants. And fun things to do. There’s a huge crowd out there starving for entertainment - for somewhere to go, for something to do, for a fresh place to hang. At The District, we’ve set aside a million square feet for you. And given you a million reasons to come.

Local's Comments
The District is bounded starting from the corner of Jamboree and Barranca in Irvine through Jamboree and Warner on the south side. The place is larger the The Block in Orange. One of the major attractions is Strike (www.strikeoc.com), a nicely designed bowling alley that reminds you more of a lounge than a bowling alley.

There are expected to be a number of dining places ranging from Brazilian BBQ Chaparosa Grill, Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ, Bistro West, Johnny Rockets, Pei Wei and more. Looking at the store directory, the stores are mostly food places with some major chain stores such as Target, Costco, Best Buy, Office Depot, Lowes and more. Don't expect too many smaller independent stores that you may be accustom to see in some malls.

This outdoor mall also features a nice AMC movie theatre that is already open.